LONDON, Ont. — Terri-Lynne McClintic had called herself a murderer on several occasions in the year leading up to the abduction and killing of eight-year-old Victoria (Tori) Stafford, an Ontario court heard Wednesday.

During the first day of cross-examination by the defence, a number of letters written by McClintic to another female inmate were shown to the court.

In them, she had referred to herself and the inmate, whose identity is protected under the Youth Criminal Justice Act, as “murderouz b—–“ and “real mu’f—– G’s.”

The handwritten letters were written throughout 2008 while McClintic was serving a sentence at a youth facility on an unrelated matter.

In them, she talked about physically harming other inmates, doing drugs and living a gangster lifestyle. The letters were also peppered with three point crowns, the symbol of the violent Los Angeles-based Crips street gang.

McClintic, 21, is serving a life sentence after pleading guilty to first-degree murder two years ago in Stafford’s death.

She is the Crown’s star witness and has been testifying against her ex-boyfriend, Michael Thomas Rafferty, who has pleaded not guilty to first-degree murder, sexual assault causing bodily harm and kidnapping the Grade 3 student.

Defence lawyer Dirk Derstine repeatedly asked McClintic Wednesday whether she thought of herself as a gang member and whether this was her reputation while in custody.

She remained defensive during his questioning but eventually admitted that she was, in his words, a “toughie on the range.”

“I had build a reputation for myself, yes,” she said.

McClintic told the court she took prescription drugs while in custody and often took other inmates’ drugs.

In one of the letters, she had talked about shooting a pregnant inmate in the face. In another, she said she wanted to “take out” another inmate’s family when she got out of the youth detention centre.

“I may have meant at that time what I was saying,” she testified. “I was younger at the time and this was years ago.”

She was seen crying in the nearly hour-long excerpt as she talked to OPP Det.-Sgt. Jim Smyth at the Woodstock, Ont. police station on May 24, 2009 — more than a month after she was arrested.

In the video, McClintic describes to Smyth the details surrounding how Tori was killed. She tells the detective that Rafferty, 31, was the one who wielded the hammer to deliver the multiple fatal blows to Tori’s skull.

Last week, while on the stand, McClintic contradicted this confession, saying she lied to Smyth that day because she couldn’t admit she was the one who killed Tori.

McClintic is largely inaudible in the video and is constantly blowing her nose.

While the video was played, Rafferty, who was dressed in a grey suit and blue stripped tie, scowled and closed his eyes from his seat in the prisoner’s box.

In instructions to the 12-member jury, Ontario Superior Justice Thomas Heeney told them he had ruled that they could use this videotaped confession as evidence in this trial.

Normally, inconsistent statements are only admitted in proceedings for jurors to assess the credibility of witnesses.

He reminded them that even though this was evidence, it was still up to them to determine the value of this video.

“The video statement is not sworn testimony,” said Heeney. “It is an interview with a police officer.”

Tori was last seen on April 8, 2009, outside her school in Woodstock.

Her remains were found three months later in a rural field north of Guelph, nearly two hours away.

She had been buried in garbage bags and was found with a Hannah Montana T-shirt and a pair of butterfly earrings.

An autopsy determined she died from multiple blunt force trauma and was killed the same day she disappeared.